Day of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ

HOW LONG DID CHRIST LIE IN THE GRAVE?

The questions, On what day was Christ crucified? how long did he lie in the grave? and on what day did he rise from the dead? are questions which naturally invite the interest and study of every Christian student. They are questions which have an intimate relation to other subjects, and upon which it is therefore important that correct views be entertained. It is a cause of regret that sentiments are being advanced upon these points, and seemingly promulgated with especial activity at the present time, which are not only untrue in themselves, but calculated to work immense mischief to the Sabbath cause. DCRC 1.1

The views to which we refer are, 1. That Christ must lie in the grave seventy-two full hours, because it is said that he was to be “in the heart of the earth three days and three nights;” and 2. That he was consequently buried at the close of the day on Wednesday, and rose at the close of the day on the Sabbath, or just before the first day of the week commenced. DCRC 1.2

Against this position we present three indictments:- DCRC 1.3

1. It is founded on unwarranted assumption. DCRC 1.4

2. It is calculated to damage, rather than help, the Sabbath cause. DCRC 1.5

3. It is contrary to the Scriptures. DCRC 1.6

1. It is founded on assumption. The text to which appeal is first made is the one solitary declaration found in Matthew 12:40. “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The statement in Jonah, to which allusion is here made, is simply this: “And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17 DCRC 1.7

How does this prove that the Saviour was to lie in the grave for seventy-two hours? “Why,” it is answered, “the expression, ‘three days and three nights,’ means just seventy-two hours, no more, no less; for as one day and one night embrace twenty-four hours, three days and three nights would be three times twenty-four hours, that is, seventy-two hours; and, secondly, the expression, ‘the heart of the earth,’ where the Saviour was to be three days and three nights, means the grave. Therefore Christ was to lie in the grave seventy-two hours.” DCRC 2.1